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Indonesians taught to fight 'infidels'

ELIZABETH JACKSON: One of the hallmarks of being a foreign correspondent is the unpredictability of the work-a joy for some, a curse for others, but a reality for all.

When the ABC's Indonesia Correspondent investigated the country's current terror cells recently, he was surprised by what he found.

George Roberts reports here from Jakarta.

GEORGE ROBERTS: It was the lead up to the tenth anniversary of the first Bali Bombings, and we were investigating the new era of Indonesian terrorism.

There were two groups that anti-terrorist authorities told us were fostering radicalism, and they'd both been co-founded by the radical cleric and convicted terrorist Abu Bakar Bashir.

The first is Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid, or J.A.T., a radical group based in Solo and set up by Bashir. He's still the spiritual leader, providing direction from his jail cell. So we met the current spokesman Son Hadi.

We had to interview him in a park because the mosque where he was praying didn't want to be associated with what he had to say - so things were already looking funny.

He arrived and seemed very happy to see us. The friendly little man grinned a lot and seemed very co-operative.

I mean, he did mention that Islam was at war with the West and that kind of included me, but he was very polite about it. But it still seemed hard to believe that he could be violent.

How come this guy is listed as a terrorist by the United States, and Indonesia and the UN consider his organisation to be behind terrorist attacks?

It was a question I had to ask him. So I did.

He laughed it off as if it was a big joke, and while he didn't exactly deny being a terrorist, he said he'd been labelled that just because he idolises Osama bin Laden - calling him a hero like Batman or Spiderman.

Maybe that's what was amusing him all along; he was sitting here, looking an infidel in the face and comparing Osama Bin Laden to a comic book hero.

My response was that Spiderman hadn't ordered the death of thousands in terrorist attacks, so the comparison wasn't really accurate.

So Son Hadi gave me a simple answer: "People should be able to choose their own heroes". He also told us that many young Muslims consider the Bali Bombers and Osama Bin Laden heroes for revitalising jihad.

With that unusual encounter over, we politely said goodbye and headed off to find the other so-called nest of terrorism.

(Sound of children singing)

The Islamic boarding school, or pasantren, known as Al-Mukmin or Ngruki has produced more terrorists than any other Islamic boarding school in Indonesia. Some of the Bali bombers and many terrorists after them were students of Ngruki.

Although, now with 1500 pupils a year, the school points out it's only a small percentage that become terrorists.

When you think about it, it sounds like the start of a joke: two white men walk into a radical Islamic school and say, "Hey, are you guys terrorists?" But that's pretty much what we did.

Not straight away of course. We had a tour of the school with its friendly smiling spokesman Hamim Sofyan. Most of the students laughed and pointed at the two tall white guys wandering through. A couple of students did look me in the eye with an unsettling look of utter disdain on their faces.

But generally everyone was very friendly.

For a school, which was co-founded by the convicted terrorist Abu Bakar Bashir, it seemed very hard to believe it was doing anything to encourage violence against westerners.

After all, the kids were typing on American computers, using Microsoft Word, and wearing American brands like Converse All-Stars.

The principal appeared to be wearing Oakley glasses - a symbol of American capitalism, and a company that provides military equipment to the US army. So it just seemed like Indonesia's version of any private school you might find in Australia.

Then, just before we left, three things happened.

Firstly, Hamin conceded that the students revere Abu Bakar Bashir as a respected figurehead.

Secondly, I looked up and saw a sign above the door that said, "Masuk pondok untuk belajar, keluar untuk berjuang". It means "Enter the lodge to learn, leave here to fight."

And finally I asked: what the verse meant that the students were reciting.

(Sound of children singing)

I was told it was about riding horses into battle to fight infidels.

This is George Roberts, in Jakarta, reporting for Correspondent's Report.